The Osceola times., 1887-03-05

nered," that il, two or three more
chips are taken from the corners Of
the boxes, thus exposing little more
broken surface to the action of the sun,
Tor, 1t must be understood, no turpen.
Tine exudes from the tree except where
the bark is removed. Now begins thu
work in earnest. At intervals OF one
week the crop has to be gone over
and each tree "chipped" or '.hacked. 4"
This process consists of beginning At
the upper edge of the box and at each
round taking off strip of bark about
three inches in width, inclining from
the outer edge Of the tree and conyere-
ing in the center As the bark 10 re-
moved the turpentine spontaneously ex.
udes from the tree and runs down into
the boxes which were first cut near the
bottom of the tree. When the tree
has been hacked as high up as it can
be reached, then comes the more labo-
rious work of pulling" This is
virtually the same as hacking, the diff
ference being that an oval-shaped tool
Is used, to which is attached a handle
ten or twelve feet in length. The
"pulling" is continued until the tree il
stripped of its bark up about twenty
feet, which is as high as it can be sue
cessfully worked.
During all this process of hacking
and pulling the boxes have to be
dipped regularly about once week.
Barrels are placed all through the for
! est at convenient intervals, and the
clippers" provided with buckets and
small vessels for dipping the turpen-
tine out of the boxes, go through the
forest and collect the turpentine which
has accumulated in the boxes and
empty it into the barrels.
All the work is done by negroes, who
are paid by the piece-that is, they are
paid so much TO do certain work.
For instance, after crop of trees have
been boxed, one man is hired to do the
hacking, another the dipping. ETC., Of
that crop. One crop, or 10000 boxes,
is considered an average weeks work
for one man in each department of the
work. The work is superintended by
a responsible white man, who "rides the
woods" at stated periods to see that the
work is properly carried on and to di.
rect its management The owners
probably never see the forest at all.
They are located at the most con-
venient points on the railroad, where
they have a store and where the dis
tillery is located.
After forest has been worked over
one time and all the turpentine has
been procured from the first boxing, it
is again gone over and back-boxed-
that is, the other side of the tree ID
boxed and it is worked just as in the
first instance. From this working rs
good yield is often obtained as from
the first, though the turpentine is not
always of as good quality. After the
tree has been worked the second time
they are no longer of any value as tur-
pentine producers, but are then cut
down and converted into lumber and
shingles. When forest of long-leaf
pine is cut down and destroyed the
growth which follows it is invariably
the short-leaf pine, which does not pro-
duce turpentine; indeed it is fit for
nothing but fence-rails and fire-wood.
The process of converting crude tur-
pentine into spirits and rosin is an
interesting one, and yet it is difficult of
lucid description. A still consists SIM
ply of a large copper vessel and q
"worm." The vessel or pot is built up
in strong masonry, with furnace un-
derneath. BY the side of this tank
is built. in which is placed the worm"
a spiral-shaped coil of copper piping,
and the tank is filed with water. The
pot or still is then filled with crude tur-
pentinc and "cap" is placed over the
top Of the still. From the cap a cop
per pipe runs to and connects with the
worm in the tank, care being taken
that no crevice is left through which
the steam can escape. A fire is then
built in the furnace under the still and
the turpentine is soon boiling. The
steam generated by the boiling turpen-
tine, having no other means of escape,
passes through the copper piping
attached to the "cap" and from there
into the worm in the tank. The
worm. being kept constantly covered
with cool water, condenses the steam
and it passes out of the worm into
tank provided for the purpose. and is
then ready to be barreled and shipped.
During the process of boiling care must
be taken to keep good fire, for if it is
allowed to die down the turpentine will
boil over. II the least partic lie OF it
comes in contact with the fire there is
no extinguishing it.
When "run" has been made and
all the spirits extracted from the tur-
pentine, what is left is still called rosin.
That is, it is the crude turpentine from
which the spirits have been extracted.
This rosn is taken from the still and
put into barrels for shipment 1t is
also called pitch and is used, principal
ly, for calking ships and vessels.-R.
". Knight, in Philadelphia Times.
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